Tips for automation lane manual editing?

I have been working with Cubase for a long time… now on 7.5

I do a lot of manual automation lane editing, basically just click and draw points. I find it very cumbersome.

If I am zoomed out too far and just click once, sometimes it moves track value away from zero.

When I want to drop a line value to zero for a period of time… it’s akward to re-edit I usually have to choose a point prior and delete subsequent points.

I think Cubase has ability to set linear/exp. ramps – how does this work?

Any others find Cubase limited for this … or tips that will help speed up process and flow better?

i’d suggest using the range tool to facilitate working with automation. also might be worth it looking at the project logical editor to see what commands it can offer re: automation. the automation panel also has a ‘functions’ section allowing to quickly delete all automation (for instance) between the locators. personally i also keep a library of different ‘‘automation shapes’’ ready for copying and pasting on an arbitrary track. (to get a ramp shape, just select it instead of the standard line shape at the top of the cubase window…)

Yes, the automation is quite limited in terms of fast workflow because it was built for rock/orchestra volume rides and those genres need no more functionality.

If you do EDM and work with heavy experimental automation this will become obvious.
However, I still think they have made great strides in this department, the engine doesnt lack features per say, its actually very feature-rich, the issue is just a cumbersome workflow.

What cubase needs is FL studio-style Spline based editing of automation.
Most importantly for me atleast would be dynamic-sizing-spline points so one may work at maximum zoomout.
Its hard to explain how that system works but trust me, it is very fast.

Agreed, fl studio is king when it comes to automation / modulation, would be great to see SB get ‘inspired’.

Manually editing points is quite annoying.
If you want to adjust the value in a section, you have to create points on the sides of the section, then choose the points inside the section (or create 2 points if no points were there before) and then adjust those either point by point or by move/scale vertically.
There’s a macro that in the “Tips Tricks And Workflow Goodness” thread that allows simpler adjustment, but it’s not perfect.
If you just want to lower a section, you can set the locators and through the automation panel choose “fill loop”, play the section and adjust the value. When you stop, it’ll write that value into the whole loop.

Is there any remedy for when dropping points to zero? The automation line disappears and points between can’t be selected. Can’t zero just be the very bottom of the line value, instead of going into black hole mode?

not that i know of, just going to the infoline and mousewheeling up, so the ‘minus infinity’ value changes up to something like -76 and you’re back in the game. pretty annoying.